Monday, January 23, 2012

Landmark Decision: Supreme Court Says Something About Something

by Thornhille Broome, TYDN Editor at Large
WASHINGTON -- (TYDN) In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that something about something requires some type of action by something, TheYellowDailyNews has learned.

The far-reaching 125-page decision -- with a 5-4 majority opinion, a 4-5 concurring opinion and a separate solo opinion -- came five years after the Supreme Court first addressed the topic in a ruling that many legal observers suggested at the time would spark more litigation, according to an analysis by TheYellowDailyNews, the most advanced legal analysis on the topic to date.

Legal observers concurred Monday, and said the court's latest opinion clearly spelled out for the first time that something about something requires some type of action by something.

"This is a watershed, landmark opinion that will forever change the face of legal doctrine about whether something about something requires some type of action by something," Harvard scholar Burt Lacksdale said in an exclusive interview with TheYellowDailyNews.

The high court's decision reverses the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled last year that something about something does not always require some type of action by something.

Writing for the Supreme Court majority, Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that the "Constitution demands that something about something requires some type of action by something."

To suggest otherwise, the chief justice added, "shocks the conscience."

In dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer agreed with the lower court. "Something about something requires some type of action by something, but not in all cases," Breyer wrote.

Breyer added that the lower court should revisit the issue as applied to the facts in the case.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote separately to say that "sometimes something about something requires some type of action by something."